


Bad Coffee and Betrayal both taste Bitter

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Betrayal, Cisco Ramon Needs A Hug, Episode Related, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Nightmares, Past Character Death, Repressed Memories, Strained Friendships, Threats of Violence, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 08:28:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18796672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Cisco had trusted Nora. And it had turned out that the entire time they had known her, she was working with the man who had killed him all those years ago, shoving his hand through his chest and stopping Cisco’s heart with his fist, and here she was again, eyes glowing the same kind of red and hand vibrating the same sort of speed with a threat on her lips and fear in Cisco's eyes.Yeah, Sherloque could appreciate how that would hurt.





	Bad Coffee and Betrayal both taste Bitter

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't actually caught up to this season yet so I'm not quite sure how Sherloque speaks/ refers to Cisco (because every Wells have used something: Ramon, Francisco, Cisco, etc) so I just used what I gathered from snippets from youtube. I put bits in brackets because I wanted to sort of have some of it in Sherloque's voice/thoughts for some reason so I really hoped it worked. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoyed it x

Realistically, Sherloque knew he and Cisco hadn’t exactly gotten along from the moment he had stepped foot on Earth-1 and maybe that had something to do with Ramon being jealous of him and his intellect, or maybe he was just bad at first impressions. He could just be bad at keeping relationships afloat- he has a long line of ex-wives all willing to prove it.

Regardless, he liked Cisco. Maybe they had gotten on with a bumpy start, maybe Sherloque thought Cisco was too slow and lacklustre and maybe Cisco thought Sherloque was a pompous, know it all prick who had arrived to steal his thunder, but over time, they had learnt to respect each other. Like each other maybe.

But there were a few things that they had in common. High-level intellect. Both dashingly handsome. Funny in all the best ways. Both dashingly handsome- did he mention that already?

 _Nora_.

Despite everything, both he and Cisco both had an overwhelming like for young Nora West-Allen. Sure, maybe Sherloque didn’t exactly trust her or her motives or her diary filled with scribbles and symbols, but she had willing saved his life on more than one occasion and anyone who risked their lives to save him had a thumbs up in his book.

Even when Barry had sent her away, secretly smuggled her back to the future (really, the present for her, so she shouldn’t have complained. It’s not like he sent her back to the prehistoric times), Sherloque had felt a sharp twinge of sadness for her. He knew it was his fault. If he had known how severe her punishment would be, or that there was to be any punishment at all, he never would have exposed her in the first place.

Cisco… his trust was so overwhelming that despite not having any powers despite his genius, he could feel how strongly Cisco loved and trusted and cared about every single person who was employed at S.T.A.R Labs, even to the point of his own detriment. But he had trusted Nora. And it had turned out that the entire time they had known her, she was working with, (or, speaking with, neither of which really mattered to Sherloque) the man who had killed him all those years ago, shoving his hand through his chest and stopping Cisco’s heart with his fist.

Yeah, Sherloque could appreciate how that would hurt.

So when they had found out that Nora had come back… well. They were happy. Overjoyed, really. Desperate to see her smiling face again, bouncing around the lab and proving viable answers to their problems. Sherloque would never admit it, but he missed her more than he ever thought he would, missed her more than any of his ex-wives, in fact.

Regardless, he had never expected to encounter her as they did.

The broken man in the elevator shaft was bad enough (Cisco had called him ‘Ragdoll’ and honestly it was the only name Sherloque had agreed with), and then a bag was thrown over his head and he'd been tied to a chair in some random warehouse beside Cisco Ramon of all people, someone whose mouth was bigger than his sense of self-preservation, which would realistically result in both their demise.

Sherloque had hoped to reconnect with Nora over a coffee, or a phone call, or at a historical museum. Maybe both with gifts. Sherloque certainly would never say no to flowers or a box of the finest chocolates. Being tied to a chair and having his friend forced to build some sort of weapon was so far from his mind it was basically back on Earth-221.

Yet this wasn’t the Nora he knew, not the XS either- her words too sharp, her tone too clipped, her body too tightly strung like she was waiting for someone to strike her. Her lips were twisted into a mockery of a scowl, poisonous and uninviting and the dark mask over her eyes made her look villainous and evil, a fallen angel come to avenge the darkness it was banished to. Maybe this was the punishment he deserved, maybe this is what he got for trying to prove himself to the people he now called a family and ruining the life that Nora had tried so genuinely to build here in the present.

But Cisco… Cisco had done nothing to deserve her wrath apart from maybe cracking a few unfunny jokes and laughing too loud when she ran face-first into a wall, but nothing worth being kidnapped and tied to a chair and intimidated into doing whatever she wanted.

Sure, maybe Sherloque deserved it, maybe Nora had changed… but Cisco?

He’d heard about what had happened with the so-called “Reverse Flash”, heard the stories and seen the footage and heard the screaming from the spare room when Cisco slept late at the lab instead of going home and Sherloque pretended the next morning over a hot cup of coffee that he hadn’t heard the cries.

Seeing it in real life though, the way Nora’s eyes lit up in a savage red and the way her entire arm moved so quickly that Sherloque was only seeing the afterimages, and he watched the way Cisco (always moving, always talking never shutting up) stilled. His face lost all pallor as the blood rushed from his cheeks to his toes. His eyes widened. His body tensed and shook and he watched as that hand approached his chest just as it had so many times before in his dreams and he willingly agreed to whatever plan this new nefarious Nora had in store.

Sherloque hadn’t always liked Cisco, (still didn’t, not completely, not really) but he could appreciate the pain when a man’s weaknesses, his darkest fears, are used against him by someone he thought to be a friend.

So when they’re alone in that room, nobody but the Ragdoll guarding them (though he didn’t really seem to care if they spoke or not, just made sure they didn’t move too far from their seats), he broached the subject that he was sure was probably left unsaid. “Francisco… you and I have not always had the best relationship,”

“True,” Cisco agreed absently, more focused on the pieces of tech laid out in front of him, a screwdriver in his hand as he fought with a fiddly screw. “Where are you going with this?”

Heaving a deep breath, Sherloque settled deeper into his seat and ignored the look from the Ragdoll at his sudden shifting. Cisco still didn’t look up from his task, too busy focused on the tiny pieces of rewiring. “Well, it has come to my attention that our Miss Nora used some, uh, shall we say,  _unsavoury_  tactics to persuade you into doing her dirty work for her, the memory of a man who wore my face.”

Cisco stilled, body tightening like a coiled spring about to snap. “What are you talking about?”

“It is no secret that I know about this… this “Reverse Flash”, so you say,” Sherloque continued, shaking his head in a vain attempt to get his hair out of his face. It was beginning to get obnoxiously long- he would need a cut soon, or tie it up somehow without looking like a moron. “I was not told that it was a sore subject for the team and, naturally, I went digging through the archives for some more information.”

Sherloque caught Cisco rolling his eyes from under his hair (equally as long as Sherloque’s, the poser) and he scoffed. “Of course you did. The same thing happened with Nora’s journal- you never can keep your big nose out of everyone else’s business.”

Flinching, Sherloque looked away from the eyes that weren’t even on him. He would have loved to wave his arms about, more accurately explain why he did what he did, but with his arms tied, there would be no use in even trying. “Well- yes.” He cleared his throat before he continued. “It seems that this Eobard Thawne has had an impact on all of you. He killed Barry’s mother and his father was wrongfully imprisoned for his crimes. Caitlin lost a mentor, someone she looked up to, and her fiancée was killed because of his experiment. And he gave you nightmares that you wake up screaming from in the middle of the night.”

Sighing sharply, Cisco placed the phone on the table heavily and the noise made Sherloque jump. Even their strangely emotionless and twisted bodyguard looked at them in surprise. “What the hell is this about, huh? Is your life already so ruined that all you can do to get entertainment is to ruin ours as well?”

“Come now, don’t be like that,” Sherloque said, rolling his eyes. (Honestly, it was just a simple observation, there was no reason for the conversation to get so heated so quickly). “I just merely want to speak with you about it. I saw what Nora did back there, using something you so greatly fear against you. It was wrong, and that she cannot talk her way out of.”

“Yeah, well, with all the conspiring with Thawne she’s apparently been doing, it’s not a surprise if he told her with in-depth detail of how he killed me,” Cisco ran a hand through his hair and Sherloque frowned because it was shaking ever so slightly. Hardly steady enough to work on such an intricate device. “And her eyes lit up the same as his- that’s not normal.”

Clearing his throat, Sherloque shifted in his seat again in an attempt to stop his bonds from rubbing painfully against his skin, and the Ragdoll didn’t even bother to turn in his direction. “Yes, well, it seems that she knows all the best ways to get under your skin. Does that not… bother you, at all? That Nora of all people would use that against you?”

Tensing, Cisco averted his eyes from Sherloque’s gaze and focused back down on the table scattered with tiny parts and coloured wires and tools. “I guess I kind of deserve it, huh. Being so trusting and all that. I uh, I probably should have deleted that footage from the database once I got the chance but uh, I never thought it would be so relevant.”

Despite suddenly wanting to tell Cisco almost desperately that he did not ‘deserve it’ in the slightest, Sherloque settled back against his chair and pursed his lips. “I take it you do not rewatch the footage, the exact moment of your demise.” Cisco shook his head. “Even though it happened in another timeline, so you say, you still have the footage of when you tried to lead him into that trap of yours, and that is enough to bring back bad memories. That- I can understand. My question, however, is why this is all coming back to you. It never happened, not really anyway, so why do the very thought and the reminder bring back such a strong response?”

“Because it may not have died, sure, and yeah, maybe Barry reversed the timeline,” Cisco’s voice was tight and tired at the same time, as though the very thought was exhausting him (Or maybe it was just the many late nights of him staying awake hunched over a computer screen and the hours he spent shocked awake after a particularly vivid nightmare). He reached a finger up and tapped on his temple. “But it’s always in my head, and with my powers, I relive it almost every day. Same with Dante’s death and every other horrible thing that’s ever happened to me. I see it all the time and because you guys have no idea it even happened, it’s not like I can talk to you about any of it.”

Humming, Sherloque watched with piercing eyes as Cisco bowed his head so his hair hid his face and began to fiddle with a screwdriver, rolling it back and forth between his palms. “I suppose seeing me is quite difficult for you. I do wear his face, after all. Or rather- he wore mine.”

Cisco shrugged. “It was hard on all of us, at first. The same way it was hard when Harry and H.R came from their Earth, but each time it was a little easier. They were just too different from Doctor Wells. Even though they shared a face and a name, it wasn’t hard to tell how complex they all really were. You too.” He glanced up for a moment. “Doctor Wells wasn’t French.” He looked back down at his work.

“Yes, well.” Sherloque cleared his throat. “You may not think so, Cisco, but if what you said was true about being captured before and forced to build weapons of mass destruction for madmen, then that is cause for concern and let me tell you, I am very concerned. And these nightmares you’ve been having… are not just something for you to brush off. You died. It happened. It is more than just a figment of your imagination.”

Snorting, Cisco gripped and tugged at his hair so sharply that Sherloque worried that it was going to rip away. “It’s not like I can just go up to any therapist and say, ‘hey, because of my meta-human powers I have been getting these  _crazy_  reoccurring nightmares about where the once-amazing man who convinced us all that he needed a wheelchair and that he didn’t cause the Particle Accelerator to explode on purpose to create my friend the Flash walked up to me a shoved a vibrating hand through my chest because he was actually a speedster from another time wearing the face of Harrison Wells, but he didn’t really kill me, because the Flash accidentally erased that timeline.’ Yeah, maybe in your world Sherloque, but here that’s not going to fly with any therapist.”

“Maybe not a therapist, you are right,” Sherloque admitted with a slight shrug of his shoulders and a bow of his head. “But your friends are always there for you. Barry, Caitlin, Iris, baby giraffe. Even Nora, when we eventually knock her out of this funk of hers. I’m sure they’d always be ready to listen to whatever ails you.”

“I’m not quite sure about what kind of relationship you think that we have,” Cisco said, “We haven’t actually been that close in ages.”

“What about that woman you’ve been seeing? Kamillia?”

Rolling his eyes, Cisco wiped at his mouth, smearing dirt and grease across his chin. “Kamillia doesn’t even know that I have powers let alone that I work with the Flash and that I’ve died in at least one timeline.”

Sherloque paused for a second as he thought, mentally flipping through and cauterizing a thousand different solutions like shuffling an overly-intricate deck of cards, and ultimately he came upon the most sensible one, though the one he was the most reluctant to suggest. “Well, if those are not people you wish to bear your soul to, then I am always here. As long as I have my cup of tea and you have your… rather flamboyant cocktail, I shall be here to talk if you would like.”

Cisco looked about to reply, brow furrowed and lips pressed tight together, but before he could utter a sound, Ragdoll bent backwards over one of the chairs, hair falling and stoic face staring right at Cisco and Sherloque, “Enough,” he hissed in his gravelly, broken voice. “Back to work. No more talk.”

Flinching, Cisco looked back down at his work and Sherloque watched him with sad eyes and they did not speak again. 

**Author's Note:**

> Also, happy mothers day to my wonderful mother and to all the mothers out there x


End file.
